Buffaloes building robots: New class offered to Woodland Poly students

Senior Josh Martinez spent Thursday morning working with a robot built out of LEGOs, programming it to maneuver an obstacle course without colliding into furniture, boxes, or traffic cones on the classroom floor.

Now in its third year of operation, Woodland Polytechnic Academy, a public charter high school in Woodland, has expanded its curriculum to include a robotics class among other new programs.

Martinez is one of many students who have taken the class, which is an elective course that was first offered at the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year. Dannette Vassar has been teaching at Woodland Poly since the beginning. In her new role as robotics instructor, she finds herself learning alongside the students.

According to Vassar, at first the students wanted her to give them all the answers, to which she would encourage them to approach the problem differently. After the students grew more accustomed to the material, Vassar said they began to "enjoy the puzzle" and figure it out together.

"These students are very self-directed," said Mari Brabbin, executive director at Woodland Poly. "They help each other, learn together, and have to discover their own answers."

As Martinez continued to alter his program, Vassar encouraged him to try different things to get it right. After his tenth run of the obstacle course, Martinez became frustrated and asked Vassar to take at look at what he was doing wrong. The two partnered together to get it right, switching out components from one robot to another and writing the program again. They finally got it corrected by adjusting some of the settings.

The robot, called a "LEGO Mindstorm," is equipped with motion, light, sound and distance censors to help it navigate the environment. The programming software and robotic components were obtained through the LEGO Education program.

The beginners in the class were working on a different project; a spinning bird robot, also made out of LEGOs, which the students could control and make tweet with the push of a button. The student pairs helped each other with the project, trying to get the birds to spin at different speeds and in different directions.

According to Vassar, the robotics course encompasses several different aspects of the high school curriculum. It helps students develop problem-solving skills and includes lessons in math and physics. Students learn to integrate systems of software and hardware to build, program and control their robots.

Vassar said that the class uses project-based learning and teamwork. It also counts as the school's technology requirement, along with classes in computer literacy, web design and digital media.

Martinez completed the course last semester, but continues to learn and helps Vassar with robotics demonstrations.

"It is a lot of trial and error," he said. "It is a lot of troubleshooting, but it is pretty cool."

Now in his senior year, Martinez is looking forward to attending a university. Even though he enjoys the programming aspects of robotics, Martinez plans on becoming a psychologist, but is glad that he tried something new "just to say that I tried it."

Both Brabbin and Vassar are hopeful that the program will continue to expand in the years to come.

"As we expand the program," Vassar said. "I hope to see the advanced robotics students entering competitions, of which there are several, and really being creative with it."